Highlights 8 The Role and Promise of Physics Education Research January 2006 By Noah Finkelstein APS NEWS Volume 15, No.1 A Publication of The American Physical Society http://www.aps.org/apsnews
Executive Board Passes Resolution What’s in a logo? on Office of Science Budget Here is the new logo that the American Physical Society will begin using immediately, on stationery, business cards, various other publications ast fall, Congress passed H. greatly distressed by the damag- notes that: The budget adopted by and the web. It differs from the old logo by virtue of the prominent R. 2419, which set the ing conference action on H.R. the conferees rolled back funding inclusion of the word “physics.” LFY2006 budget for the 2419, which eliminated the small for most Office of Science pro- The purpose of this addition is to make Office of Science in the but critical increases for the grams to levels requested by the clear, to non-physicists, the essential Department of Energy. This Department of Energy’s scientific White House last February; And nature of the society in a way that the budget impacted nuclear physics research programs that both hous- at that time, in response to queries, name “American Physical Society” particularly severely (see related es of Congress had previously DOE officials agreed that such does not. story on page 5). At its November approved. The Board notes that in budgetary levels would result in a Marvin Cohen, who was APS President in meeting the APS Executive Board the face of inflationary increases shortfall of $100 million in univer- November when the logo was approved passed a resolution expressing its in wages and energy costs, H.R. sity grants, amounting to a ten by the Executive Board, says “I like the distress and calling for a rearrange- 2419 will force the Department to percent reduction in the level of logo. At least now when you are in an ment of priorities in FY2007. make significant reductions in its scientific effort. elevator at an APS meeting and someone The following is the text of the university programs and in oper- •Finally, the Executive Board looks at your badge, they won’t ask you about sports.” resolution. ations of its national research notes that: The budget Congress •The Executive Board of the facilities. adopted will discourage young He is optimistic about the logo’s utility. “I think that the new logo, if used well – American Physical Society is •The Executive Board also Americans from pursuing careers perhaps with tag lines – will get us past many of the identity problems we’ve had. in the physical sciences at a time But if the logo change doesn’t work, in 2 or 3 years we may consider going forward with a full name change.” The issue of a name change to “American Physics And the textbook is thi-i-is thick.... when industrial leaders are warn- Society” was explored via a member survey last summer, but was put on hold when ing that our nation is losing out in legal and financial problems proved greater than anticipated. the global competition for intellec- (see APS News, August/September and November, 2005) tual capital; And the budget runs APS News staff counter to calls by industrial lead- ers for sharp increases in federal Hydrodynamics, Small-Scale Flows investments in physical science basic research and education to Highlight 2005 DFD Meeting address the alarming deficits in our high-tech balance of trade. New research on the hydrody- World Year of Physics. One goal Funding provided by H.R. 2419 namics of pectoral fins in fish and was to communicate the excite- leaves virtually every Office of the dolphin kicks of Olympic- ment of physics to the general Photo credit: Bernard Khoury public, thereby inspiring a new Ninety new physics and astronomy faculty attended a 3-day workshop Science program under consider- level swimmers were among the th at the American Center for Physics in College Park last November, to absorb able stress. For example, highlights of the 58 annual meet- generation of scientists. In honor new ideas in pedagogy from leading practitioners and researchers in Brookhaven National Laboratory ing of the APS Division of Fluid of the WYP, the meeting featured physics education. The workshop is run annually by the American in New York has already Dynamics (DFD), held November a special public lecture by Nobel Association of Physics Teachers, in partnership with the APS and the announced that it is making plans 20-22 in Chicago, Illinois. The laureate Leon Lederman on sci- American Astronomical Society, with funding provided by the National to lay off 100 members of its staff meeting was jointly hosted by the ence education’s “quiet crisis.” Science Foundation. Here Warren Hein, Associate Executive Officer of and suspend activities at the Illinois Institute of Technology, His lecture was followed by a AAPT (left), rivets workshop participants with a key bit of information. Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider, Northwestern University, and the reception and an exhibit of the The workshop chair was Ken Krane of Oregon State University. which is just now reaching the University of Illinois, Urbana- 2005 Gallery of Fluid Motion. peak of its scientific productivity. Champaign. Hydrodynamics. The pectoral Dallas To Host 2006 APS April Meeting Similarly, Thomas Jefferson Last year marked the 100th fins of fish are designed for a great Laboratory in Virginia is making anniversary of Einstein’s “miracle degree of control over fluid forces: Approximately 1500 physicists and Hadronic Physics. Executive Board continued on page 5 year” and was designated the they are flexible and able to are expected to attend the 2006 In keeping with the more gener- change their shape, enhancing APS April Meeting, to be held April alist tone of the April meeting, nine their ability to maneuver in water. 22-25 in Dallas, Texas. The scien- invited plenary talks will highlight Michelson and Morley Get Their Due However, the kinetics do not lend tific program, which focuses on the technical program (see sidebar). themselves easily to the usual astrophysics, particle physics, APS April Meeting continued on page 7 analysis based on pitching or nuclear physics, and related fields, paddling kinematics, or lift/drag- will consist of three plenary ses- Plenary Talks at April Meeting based propulsive mechanisms. In order to glean new insights sions, approximately 75 invited ses- Voyager Data and the Termination Lock sions, more than 100 contributed Edward Stone, Caltech into the hydrodynamics of sessions, and poster sessions. This pectoral fins, researchers at Liquid Phase Quark-Gluon Plasma year the meeting will be held in Barbara Jacak, SUNY, Stony Brook Harvard University and at George conjunction with the annual Washington University used two- Recent Results from MiniBoone camera high-resolution digital Sherwood Fusion Theory Hira Tanaka, Princeton Conference, devoted to dissemi- Photo credit: Mike Sands video to measure 3-D fin confor- Neutrinos and Cosmology On November 14, Case Western Reserve University held a mation of fish during steady swim- nating the latest research results in Nicole Bell, Caltech controlled thermonuclear research. celebration of the World Year of Physics, as well as of the centen- ming and while maneuvering. APS units represented at the Computational Techniques and nial of their physics building. As part of the festivities, APS They also performed high-fideli- Plasma Turbulance presented a plaque commemorating CWRU as a historic physics site, meeting include the Divisions of William Dorland, University of Maryland ty numerical simulations of the Astrophysics, Nuclear Physics, in honor of the Michelson-Morley experiment that took place there hydrodynamics and thrust per- Cochlear Implants and the Particles and Fields, Physics of in 1887. On hand to present the plaque was then APS vice-President formance of the pectoral fin of a Physics of Hearing (now President-elect) Leo Kadanoff of the University of Chicago. Beams, Plasma Physics, and bluegill sunfish. The measure- Ian Shipsey, Purdue University In the photograph at left, CWRU physics department Chair Cyrus Computational Physics; the ments and simulations showed The Science of Nanotubes* Taylor holds the plaque, while CWRU trustee emerita Dorothy Hamel that the fin produces a large Forums on Education, Physics Alex Zettl, UC Berkeley Hovorka and Kadanoff look on. The photograph at right shows amount of thrust at all phases in and Society, International Affairs, Kadanoff making the official presentation. Results from LIGO the fin motion, and produces a History of Physics, and Graduate Gabriella Gonzalez, Louisiana Student Affairs; and the State University This event was the second such presentation to take place as distinct system of connected vor- tices. Topical Groups on Few-Body Physics Prospects and International part of the APS Historic Sites initiative. In July, a plaque was pre- Systems, Precision Measurement Aspects of ILC sented to the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia in honor of the sci- Similar numerical simulations and Fundamental Constants, Albrecht Wagner, DESY entific work of Benjamin Franklin (see APS News, October 2005). are being used to study the fluid Gravitation, Plasma Astrophysics, *to be confirmed DFD Meeting continued on page 5 2 January 2006 APS NEWS
This Month in Physics History January 1938: Discovery of Superfluidity
"Frequently, brains would win problem worse unless you invest hen helium-4 is Kronstadt, near Leningrad. He the day. You had to outthink your huge amounts in recycling this stuff. chilled to below about studied engineering at Petrograd opponent, so it always reinforced This would increase the amount of W2.2 K, it starts to Polytechnical Institute, graduated to me as a kid that being smart was nuclear-weapons materials loose in behave in some very weird ways. in 1918, and stayed on as a lectur- a positive, that it was a superpower the world, and that's the last thing we The fluid passes through narrow er there for several years, during in a way. And there are superheroes need right now." tubes with almost no friction, which time he carried out research where their superpower is intelli- –Frank von Hippel, Princeton and even climbs up walls and on magnetic fields. gence." University, on a proposal for repro- overflows its container. Though After losing his first wife and –Jim Kakalios, University of cessing nuclear fuel, The Tri-Valley there were early suggestions of two young children to an influen- Minnesota, on his book on the Herald, November 21, 2005 odd behavior, it took 30 years za epidemic in 1921, Kapitsa physics of superheroes, the Star after helium had been liquefied moved to Cambridge to work with Tribune, (Minneapolis) November "We want to understand how before its superfluidity was dis- Ernest Rutherford at the Cavendish 11, 2005 nature reaches these energies. The covered. Laboratory. Kapitsa first worked on Pyotr Kapitsa energies of the particles that we'll be In 1908, Heike Kamerlingh magnetic field research, develop- "The morale here is abysmal. observing with this detector are mil- Onnes first liquefied helium at ing ways to produce extremely paper appeared in Nature back- People's lives have been wrenched lions of times more powerful than the University of Leiden in the strong magnetic fields. After sev- to-back with Kapitsa’s article. apart by the political games that we can produce with particle accel- Netherlands. Soon there were eral years he turned his attention to It is now understood that have been played. You can't hold erators on Earth. In principle these several hints at the strange low temperature research, and in helium II can be described as a people's careers by the heels out particles will give us the possibili- behavior of liquid helium. By 1934 he developed a new method two-fluid mixture–part a normal over the balcony without them feel- ty of testing physics that we can't test 1924 Onnes had made precise for liquefying large amounts of fluid, and part a superfluid, in ing threatened and cheapened." in our laboratories. What happened measurements of liquid helium’s helium, which paved the way for which atoms have condensed into –Brad Lee Holian, Los Alamos at the beginning of the universe is density, and found that as the continued experiments with the a single quantum state. This two National Lab, on morale at LANL, the same that you could try to probe temperature lowers, the density strange fluid. fluid model explains Kapitsa’s San Francisco Chronicle, November by reaching higher and higher ener- goes through a sharp maximum In 1934, Kapitsa traveled to and Allen and Misener’s results. 17, 2005 gies." at about 2.2 K. In 1927 Willem Russia on a visit, expecting to Kapitsa continued his research –Angela Olinto, University of Keesom and Mieczyslaw Wolfke return to Cambridge. For reasons in low temperature physics for “People ask, 'Why bacteria?' And Chicago, on a new cosmic ray detec- concluded that that liquid helium that are not clear, he was detained several years. During World War the reason is very simple. It has to tor in Argentina, Chicago Tribune, undergoes a phase transition at and had his passport seized on II he built an apparatus for pro- do with the fact that bacteria are the November 9, 2005 about 2.2 K. This temperature is Stalin’s orders. When it became ducing large amounts of liquid most fundamental organism. So if called the lambda point because clear that Kapitsa could not return oxygen for the soviet steel indus- we want to understand the differ- "What COBE told us, once and the graph of specific heat versus to Cambridge, Rutherford helped try. In the 1940s he turned his ences between animate and not-ani- for all, was that the theory behind the temperature resembles the Greek arrange for most of his apparatus attention to plasma physics and mate matter then ... we want to con- big bang was right after all." from his lab at Cambridge to be fusion. In 1946 he refused to sider the bacteria, because they are –John C. Mather, NASA, the sent to him, and Kapitsa set up a work on the Soviet atomic bomb, the first organism, the first transition Baltimore Sun, November 11, 2005 new research facility, the Institute and thus fell out of favor with from nonliving to living cells.” of Physical Problems, in Moscow. Stalin. He lost his position at the –Eshel Ben-Jacob, Tel Aviv "That's got to be tough out in the In 1937, while investigating the Institute of Physical Problems, University, on why he studies bac- heat and dirt. That or some sort of thermal conductivity of liquid and was not reinstated until after teria, The Post and Courier, forensic job would be unpleasant. helium, Kapitsa measured the flow Stalin’s death. Charleston, SC, November 28, 2005 Trying to understand how some- as the fluid flows through a gap Thirty years after his discov- body was killed. That's yucky stuff." between two discs into a surround- ery of superfluidity, and long after "There's a feeling that we could –Thomas Sanford, Sandia ing bath. he had moved on to other research find a way to really use solar ener- National Labs, on fossil hunting in The results were striking: above topics, Kapitsa was awarded the gy on a large scale within 10 to 15 hot weather and forensic work, the lambda point, there was little Nobel Prize in Physics for his years. The scientists are really jazzed which he thinks would be some flow, but below the lambda temper- low temperature research. He up about this. It really does take a of the worst jobs in science, ature, the liquid flowed with such shared the 1978 prize with Arno state-of-the-art science and apply it Albuquerque Tribune, November great ease that Kapitsa drew an Penzias and Robert Wilson, who to a world problem that really mat- 17, 2005 analogy with superconductors, and won for their discovery of the wrote in his paper in Nature on cosmic microwave background ters. There's a lot of energy and ide- A superfluid helium fountain alism." "In today's world, you will either January 8, 1938 “the helium below radiation. –Paul Alivisatos, UC Berkeley, be a nerd or end up working for a letter lambda. The two phases the lambda point enters a special Allen and Misener, though on applying nanotechnology to solar nerd." are called helium I and helium II. state that might be called a ‘super- they made essentially the same energy, San Mateo Times, November –Vernon Ehlers, US House of Though these were interesting fluid'." discovery as Kapitsa, did not 28, 2005 Representatives, on why we should results, they were not so surpris- At the same time, Allen and receive a Nobel Prize, and teach kids to be nerds, the Grand ing that anyone paid much atten- Misener at the University of Kapitsa is generally the one cred- "If we don't fix things, we'll slide Rapids Press, November 22, 2005 tion at the time. The truly Toronto performed similar studies ited with the discovery of super- right into Third World status. But the remarkable result, that helium II on liquid helium, using a slightly fluidity. problem is soluble. I'm a physicist, “I'm betting that we just haven't is a superfluid, was first discov- different setup. They measured the The work on liquid helium and and physicists have to be optimistic, yet gotten the full view of the story. ered in 1937 and published in flow through a narrow glass tube, the understanding of the weird otherwise we'd never try to under- Once we start getting these really January 1938, by Pyotr Kapitsa and also observed the extremely properties of the superfluid state stand the nature of dark energy." high-quality data coming in, more in Moscow, and independently low viscosity. They noted that the have been fundamental to the –Leon Lederman, Fermilab, on and more of it, I'm really hoping by John F. Allen and Donald flow was almost independent of field of low temperature physics, the state of science education, that somebody steps way back and Misener at the University of pressure and that therefore “any which is still an exciting area of Chicago Tribune, November 19, says 'Oh, we were just looking at Toronto. known formula cannot, from our research today, as ever more exot- 2005 it the wrong way,' and it'll turn out Kapitsa, the son of a military data, give a value of viscosity which ic low temperature states contin- not to be a dark energy. It'll turn engineer, was born in 1894 in would have any meaning.” Their ue to be produced. "It's craziness. What's in this out to be some other way of just package actually makes the waste Members in the Media contiued on page 7
Series II, Vol. 15, No.1 Department, American Physical Society, One Physics Ellipse, Treasurer Physics and Society), J. H. Eberly (Laser Science), January 2006 College Park, MD 20740-3844, [email protected]. Thomas McIlrath*, University of Maryland (emeritus) Leonard Feldman (Materials), Akif Balantekin (Nuclear), NEWS ©2005 The American Physical Society Editor-in-Chief John Jaros* (Particles & Fields), TBD (Physics of Beams), APS For Nonmembers–Circulation and Fulfillment Division, Martin Blume*, Brookhaven National Laboratory James Drake* (Plasma), Timothy Lodge (Polymer American Institute of Physics, Suite 1NO1, 2 Huntington (emeritus) Physics), Gianfranco Vidali, (New York Section), Paul Wolf Coden: ANWSEN ISSN: 1058-8132 Quadrangle, Melville, NY 11747-4502. Allow at least 6 Past-President (Ohio Section) Editor ...... Alan Chodos weeks advance notice. For address changes, please send both Marvin L. Cohen*, University of California, Berkeley Associate Editor ...... Jennifer Ouellette the old and new addresses, and, if possible, include a mail- General Councillors ADVISORS Staff Writer ...... Ernie Tretkoff ing label from a recent issue. Requests from subscribers for Christina Back, Janet Conrad, Wendell Hill, Evelyn Hu*, Representatives from Other Societies Special Publications Manager ...... Kerry G. Johnson missing issues will be honored without charge only if received Ann Orel, Arthur Ramirez, Richart Slusher, Laura Smoliar* Kenneth Heller, AAPT; Marc Brodsky, AIP Design and Production ...... Amera Jones within 6 months of the issue’s actual date of publication. International Councillor International Advisors Forefronts Editor ...... Craig Davis Periodical Postage Paid at College Park, MD and at addition- Albrecht Wagner María Esther Ortiz, Mexican Physical Society, Proofreader ...... Edward Lee al mailing offices. Postmaster: Send address changes to APS Chair, Nominating Committee Walter Davidson, Canadian Association of Physicists APS News (ISSN: 1058-8132) is published 11X the right to select and to edit for length or clarity. All corre- News, Membership Department, American Physical Society, Thomas Rosenbaum yearly, monthly, except the August/September issue, by spondence regarding APS News should be directed to: Editor, One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740-3844. Chair, Panel on Public Affairs Staff Representatives the American Physical Society, One Physics Ellipse, APS News, One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740- Ernest Moniz Alan Chodos, Associate Executive Officer; Amy Flatten College Park, MD 20740-3844, (301) 209-3200. It 3844, E-mail: [email protected]. APS COUNCIL 2006 Division, Forum and Section Councillors Director of International Affairs; Ted Hodapp, Director contains news of the Society and of its Divisions, President Charles Dermer (Astrophysics), Kate Kirby* (Atomic, of Education and Outreach; Michael Lubell, Director, Topical Groups, Sections and Forums; advance Subscriptions:APS News is an on-membership publication John J. Hopfield*, Princeton University Molecular & Optical Physics) Robert Eisenberg (Biological), Public Affairs; Stanley Brown, Editorial Director; Charles information on meetings of the Society; and reports to delivered by Periodical Mail. Members residing abroad may President-Elect Charles S. Parmenter (Chemical), Moses H. Chan Muller, Director, Journal Operations; Michael Stephens, the Society by its committees and task forces, as well receive airfreight delivery for a fee of $15. Nonmembers: Leo P. Kadanoff*, University of Chicago (Condensed Matter Physics), Richard M. Martin Controller and Assistant Treasurer as opinions. Subscription rates are available at http://librarians.aps.org/ Vice-President (Computational), Harry Swinney* (Fluid Dynamics), Peter institutional.html. Arthur Bienenstock*, Stanford University Zimmerman (Forum on Education), Roger Stuewer (Forum Administrator for Governing Committees Letters to the editor are welcomed from the member- Executive Officer on History of Physics), Patricia Mooney* (Forum on Ken Cole ship. Letters must be signed and should include an Subscription orders, renewals and address changes should Judy R. Franz*, University of Alabama, Huntsville Industrial and Applied Physics), David Ernst (Forum on * Members of the APS Executive Board address and daytime telephone number. The APS reserves be addressed as follows: For APS Members–Membership (on leave) International Physics), Philip “Bo” Hammer* (Forum on APS NEWS January 2006 3
New APS President Highlights Research Funding, Upcoming Changes in APS Personnel
John Hopfield (Princeton Q: As science becomes increas- personal contact. University) assumed the APS pres- ingly interdisciplinary, how can The APS is, by origin, the idency on January 1, 2006. In the APS be as inclusive as possible? American Physical Society. But following interview with APS You work in a biology depart- for many it is The Physical News, he discusses his priorities ment. Does that give you a differ- Society. It’s American in location, for the Society during his presi- ent perspective on the interdisci- and in its lobbying activities, but dential year. plinary nature of the field? not particularly in any other way Q: What do you see as some of A: I will be the first president or spirit. But because we don’t the most important issues facing of APS who has been so far out- have very much support for indi- the physics community today, and side the fields of physics that have viduals to go to meetings, there how can the APS address some traditionally been viewed as hard- have been few ways for the APS of these issues? core physics. I was in the to promote international contact. A: I think the most important Princeton Physics Department There is a small but active Office things are the level of support for from 1964 until 1980, then went of International Affairs with a vari- research in the United States, both to Caltech in Chemistry and ety of activities, and APS involve- at a federal level and in industri- Biology, and came back to ment in a conference on physics John J. Hopfield al labs, and the level of support for Princeton in Biology in 1996. I and sustainable development, held drops when I am reading for sci- We have a marvelous record in education in the physical sciences would contend that I have been in South Africa, was but one of ence information. I seldom have that regard, but it’s important that and math. Both of these have bit doing physics the entire time. It’s many activities of that office. a journal volume in my hands. we keep it up in a rapidly chang- by bit become disaster areas. only that I went from the physics Historically, using the physics The question of what things are ing publishing environment. I There’s a recent National of condensed matter to the physics community to build bridges bound together in a particular vol- think it’s going to be very impor- Academy of Sciences report on of biological matter and biologi- between the US and countries with ume, between covers with a par- tant for the next Editor-in-Chief to ensuring America’s economic cal systems. Understanding the which our political contact is bel- ticular title, seldom enters my head be somebody who focuses on future in the global economy. The dynamical relationship between ligerent has been very stabilizing when I am reading research. The where information dissemination report outlines recommendations structure and properties, at an to the international scene, and the individual article, not the journal, is going, and is not too heavily for improving education in sci- appropriate scale of resolution, is APS should be alert to such pos- is fast becoming the unit of selec- tied to our admittedly glorious ence and math and increasing central to both. Physics is chang- sibilities. tion by a reader. However, the past, or even present. investment in research in the phys- ing. Physics departments under- Q:The Physical Review journal in which an article is pub- Q: What can we do in 2006, ical sciences, in order to ensure US stand that they face the choice Journals are one of the major lished tends to become a surrogate now that the World Year of competitiveness and innovation. between keeping a broad defini- things APS does. How do you for the quality of an article when Physics is over, to keep up the I think one of the most impor- tion of physics and keeping broad view the journals as publishing evaluating the scientific contri- enthusiasm? tant things for the APS in the next student interest, and having nar- continues to become increasing- butions of someone outside of A: That’s an interesting ques- year is working with other soci- row definitions of physics and ly electronic and the journals face your own research area. For that tion–we ought to learn from the eties and groups to help be sure facing declining student interest more competition? reason, authors will continue to experience of the 2005 Year. 2005 that appropriate legislation gets and declining public interest and A: APS journals have been compete to have their articles pub- became so much the World Year formed to meet some of the goals support. I think as a whole that going electronic at a marvelous lished in quality journals. It’s very of Einstein that it lost some aspect of that report. I think there’s a real physics is making the choice for pace–we have been leaders in get- important that the refereeing of the World Year of Physics. I opportunity there, and I think to breadth. If I look at physics majors ting our information online. One process, however it is done, results think as we try to keep physics in miss this opportunity will be to leaving good departments, 30 of the phenomena associated with in articles that readers find impor- the newspapers, to keep physics in enlist in a slow progress to a dis- years ago they largely went on in everything going electronic is that tant and of outstanding quality. aster. APS has the Office of Public physics departments, but many of the importance of a journal as such New APS President continued on page 6 Affairs and the Physics Policy them now go to departments or Committee. There are people in jobs that are at the fringe of 2nd Successful Joint DNP/JPS Meeting Held in Hawaii these who have enough visibility, physics. That’s splendid for enough status with respect to the physics as a whole, as long as we Scientists reported the latest teachers. In addition, Lawrence higher intensities than the government, and who aren’t high- run meetings where these people results on experiments exploring Krauss, a professor at Case present facility. ly politically polarizing. I think continue to be involved. I think the quark–gluon plasma at Western Reserve University and Collapsing Supernovae. The this kind of representation puts that keeping up the breadth of the Brookhaven National Laboratory's author of the bestselling The RI beams at the RIKEN facility the APS in a position to influence meetings is the biggest issue there. Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider Physics of Star Trek, gave a free have also been used to study the right bureaucratic and legisla- Q: How does physics educa- (RHIC) at the 2005 fall meeting public lecture at the Maui Arts nuclear burning processes involv- tive corners in Washington, to try tion need to change to better pre- of the APS Division of Nuclear and Cultural Center on “Einstein’s ing unstable nuclei, which appear to get legislation written. These pare students and keep them inter- Physics (DNP), held in conjunc- Biggest Blunder: A Cosmic to play a critical role in the explo- issues must to be brought to the ested in physics? tion with the Japanese Physical Mystery.” sion mechanism of core-collapse administration’s attention. While A: At most institutions, physics Society (JPS), September 18-22, Mind Your QGPs. Last year, supernovae–and hence in the the NAS authorship and the mem- education has changed lamentably on the island of Maui in Hawaii. Brookhaven scientists made the nucleosynthesis of all the heavy bership of the report committee little since 1950. Look at freshman Other technical highlights includ- surprising announcement that they elements in the cosmos. Kohsuke give strong credibility to the physics. The old course was an ed research into unstable nuclei had observed evidence of the Sumiyoshi of Japan’s National report, the NAS is not in a posi- appropriate course for potential and supernova core collapse, strongly-coupled quark-gluon Astronomical Observatory has tion to push for its implementa- physics majors, and for some engi- homeland security screening plasma (QGP) in nucleus-nucleus found that the nuclear reactions of tion. neers. It emphasized Newton’s applications, semiconductor fail- collisions at RHIC, although its neutron-rich nuclei play crucial Q: What do you plan to focus laws and Maxwell’s equations. ure analysis, and setting priori- exact nature isn’t quite what physi- roles in some nucleosynthesis on during your term as APS pres- But it contained little thermal ties for the future of nuclear cists expected: it appears to be a processes. ident? physics, and minimal discussions physics. quark-gluon liquid. Several sci- Gail McLaughlin of North A: When I look at the APS, I of physics at the microscopic It was second joint meeting entists presented results from the Carolina State University followed see that it’s in very good shape. scale, of chemistry, of molecules. between the DNP and the JPS, most recent experiments seeking Sumiyoshi. While astrophysicists There’s been excellent continuity I think the emphasis has not both of them organized in the to characterize the bulk proper- have understood the mechanism over the years. However, a year remained very well balanced with hopes that such conferences would ties and dynamical evolution of for producing the heaviest ele- from now there’s going to be a respect to a changing clientele. serve as a meeting ground to this unique phase of matter, among ments for half a century, “the new Treasurer and a new Editor- With the interest there is now in engender cooperation and the them Duke University’s Steffan astrophysical site remains a mys- in-Chief. That’s two of the tri- biology, condensed matter exchange of ideas among nuclear Bass. RIKEN’s Yasuyuki Akiba tery,” she said. Possibilities umvirate of three that really run physics, and physics as the basis scientists from the US and Japan, reviewed the latest measurements include the neutrino-driven wind the APS. The people who are leav- for other technologies (e.g. nan- as well as from other Pacific Rim of heavy quarks (charm and beau- of Type II supernovae and the out- ing these positions have been very otechnology), I think a reordering countries. The first joint meeting, ty) at RHIC, which should shed flow from accretion disks sur- effective. As far as I’m concerned, of content and courses of a physics held in 2001, was a resounding even more light on the QGP’s rounding black holes. Such disks this year for the APS has got to be education is very much needed at success, with more than 800 par- properties. tend to form when neutron stars one of successful transition where- most institutions. ticipants in attendance. The 2005 RIKEN Upgrades. At the merge, or when rapidly rotating in the people who are taking over Q: Science is a very interna- meeting was even more success- RIKEN facility in Japan, beams of massive stars collapse. Both sce- those positions are brought into tional enterprise. Are there ways ful, with more than 900 attendees, unstable nuclei (called radioac- narios result in a significant flux the loop. They must become par- APS can better serve its interna- a third of them from Japan. tive isotope, or RI, beams) have of neutrinos, which can then ticipants early enough that they tional members and promote inter- Saturday, September 17th, fea- been used to uncover many new impact the neutron-to-proton ratio have a chance to learn from Tom national collaboration and infor- tured a special “Physics Fun Day” nuclear properties and insights and thus the process of nucleosyn- McIlrath and Marty Blume. It has mation exchange? at the Queen Ka’ahumanu into nuclear structure. RIKEN’s thesis. to be a smooth transition. 2007 A: Anything that takes place Shopping Center as part of the Tohru Motobayashi summarized Helping Secure the will undoubtedly begin a new era, electronically is going ever faster. year-long World Year of Physics achievements to date and outlined Homeland. Scientists at Lawrence but the transition has to be adia- The rate of exchange of informa- celebration. There were hands-on plans for a new project, the RI Livermore National Laboratory batic. That’s probably the most tion is almost not a limiting fac- science activities for adults and Beam Factory (RIBF) at RIKEN, are developing a new system to important challenge for the next tor any longer. At the same time, children of all ages, as well as a which is now under construction reduce the likelihood of false neg- year. It takes precedence over any the fact that everybody relies on Physics Olympics targeting mid- and expected to come online in ative and false positive detections particular pet project I might oth- the web and e-mail for exchange dle and high school students, and 2006. RIBF will provide a much of fissile material in ship cargo. erwise have had. of information cuts down on true a resource table for physics wider range of RI beams with DNP Meeting continued on page 5 4 January 2006 APS NEWS Letters Too Much Screaming, Not Enough Debate on Evolution Dr. Atomic Offers Lessons on the Pros and Cons of Public Outreach
Intelligent Design is not the dra- acknowledged and respected. By Marvin L. Cohen You destroy a little bit of matter conian threat envisioned by back If you think back a few centuries, he World Year of Physics and turn it into a huge amount of page author Marshall Berman [APS there really was a time when phlo- (WYP) in 2005 meant a year energy. News, October 2005]. Nearly every- giston was taken as scientific fact; Tof outreach for the APS and The opening lines of the opera thing about this controversy has and when the concept was later over- its officers. I traveled around the are from the 1945 "Smyth Report," been blown way out of proportion. thrown, it did not cause the collapse world, showed the Einstein poster which goes on to make exactly the The central problem is that extreme- of all Newtonian Mechanics–only a in every talk I gave, and urged those same point about E=mc2, but in the ly polarized factions have made it the correction; and then science moved I met with the same line: "This is opera, the quote was incomplete. I centerpiece of the fight between forward again. When someone today the World Year of Physics; take a naively assumed that composer John atheism and religious fundamental- points out that Darwinism can't physicist to lunch." I lauded our Adams and director/librettist Peter ism. There has been no opportuni- account for everything, but that per- field every chance I got, and even Sellars would change the offending ty for voices of moderation to be son cannot provide a complete snagged a few free lunches in the lines. It's one of the characteristics heard above the screaming. alternative explanation, you would process. of being a professor: you assume Instead of the extremists on either think that people would start look- Even before the WYP kicked people are listening to you, and that end, there are two significant scien- ing for a correction. Unfortunately, into high gear, I was already deep they will react appropriately when Marvin Cohen tists who are party to the intelligent the extreme polarization surround- into “physics outreach mode.” In corrected. design controversy, and thoughtful ing the argument has made that October 2004, Alexander (Sandy) At the next APS Executive Board missed my only chance to be part people would do much better to pay nearly impossible, and people are Fetter from Stanford University meeting, I raised the question of of an opera. They went ahead with attention to them: presumed to take sides. The contacted me. Sandy said he knew acknowledging Dr. Atomic in some the old version and inserted a quote One is Michael Behe from prevailing scientific establishment the development officer working way. Since the APS endorses con- from me in the opera program stat- Lehigh University, who wrote a brands as a "religious nut" anyone with Pamela Rosenberg, the exec- ferences but not works of art, we ing "the problem." book "Darwin's Black Box" in which who doesn't totally accept the utive director of the San Francisco decided to pass the following res- Just prior to the opening, I par- he made specific and limited criti- scientific materialist's viewpoint Opera (SFO), who wanted [former olution: "The American Physical ticipated in a panel on the University cisms of Darwinian evolution. For that neo-Darwinian evolution can APS president] Helen Quinn and Society recognizes the importance of California, Berkeley campus with over a decade, Behe has resisted the explain everything about life. me to learn about the SFO's future of the Manhattan Project in our his- Adams, Sellars, and our Dean of role of "champion" that the If the screamers would kindly production of a newly commis- tory and endorses the creative role Physical Sciences, Mark Richards. Creationists would like to thrust get off the stage, a coherent (and sioned opera, Doctor Atomic. The of the arts in helping the public to There was an overflowing crowd in upon him; he has made NO state- ultimately useful) debate could SFO hoped to get some type of understand it." Some Board mem- a large lecture hall. Even the opera ment supporting creationism, but begin. Two cornerstones of that endorsement of the opera from the bers expressed worries about what itself seemed insignificant when I steadfastly insisted that Darwin's debate would be to notice the incom- APS. message the opera would convey played the first part of a tape of a theory is missing something. pleteness of Darwin's theory, and to We attended a workshop during about physicists and their ethics. I talk Oppenheimer gave in The other is Kenneth Miller of distinguish between the domain of which an excerpt of the opera was was worried about energy and mat- Philadelphia on November 16, Brown University, author of science and the domain of philoso- performed on October 30. This is ter and the possibility of other tech- 1945, four months after Trinity. This "Finding Darwin's God," and also phy. These are the two strongest when I first heard the opening lines: nical mistakes I hadn't seen yet. I tape was recently discovered in the author of a leading high school biol- points made by Behe and Miller. I Matter can neither be created was not comforted by the adver- archives of the American ogy text. Miller carefully distin- think that if such a debate were nor destroyed, but only altered tisements for the opera promising Philosophical Society. Oppenheimer guishes between science on one pursued, evolution would win, but in form that it would be based on historical gives a chilling account of what hand and philosophy on the other, it would be sobered by the insights Energy can be neither created documents. happened in Hiroshima and and judges that Intelligent Design of intelligent design theory, and we nor destroyed, but only altered Unfortunately, no changes were Nagasaki, and he goes on to give his Theory falls in the realm of philos- would all end up knowing more in form. made. I finally got the libretto in its view of what the future will bring. ophy. Somewhat similar to Behe, about life processes. When the performance of the entirety, reviewed government It drove home the point that the Miller has resisted the blandish- Marshall Berman's headline excerpt ended, my hand flew up documents that had been used to making of the bomb is a milestone ments of the scientific materialists begins "Intelligent Design: The New immediately. I stated that 2005 had create the opera, and met with SFO in history. who would make him their hero. Creationism...", but the colon is real- been designated the WYP celebrat- officers. Except for the opening, The tape also allowed me to He doesn't dislike philosophy or ly an equal sign. When he first con- ing the 100th anniversary of the libretto was technically accept- make the point that scientists were theology, but he insists that the flates intelligent design with Einstein's year of great discover- able. I had the audacity to suggest willing to join the Manhattan Project borderline with science should be Too Much Screaming continued on page 7 ies, including his equation, E=mc2. adding a line to the opening to make because they thought that the I emphasized that this equation everything technically acceptable. German scientists might get there There Is No Joy in Physics shows that matter can be changed I received a copy of the score with first. Some were refugees who Re: Intelligent Design: The ultimate aims." I fail to see how into energy. More importantly, con- my line in it, but at one of the final escaped from Europe and wanted to New Creationism Threatens All of any serious scientist can disagree sidering the opera's theme, that's rehearsals it was decided that the drop the bomb on Hitler. However Science and Society, by Marshall with this assessment. how you make an atomic bomb. line didn't make it musically. I after Trinity and the German surren- Berman, APS News Back Page, It does not help for leaders in der, scientists were divided about the October, 2005: the fields of science to just brand Teach Intelligent Design as an Example of Non-Science question of whether to drop the I do not believe that "The ID the ID advocates as fools, in the bomb on Japan. This debate goes on movement poses a threat to all "dark ages", and a "threat." There Marshall Berman warns of the allows some of its highest creations today after 60 years. science and perhaps secular are obviously missing links in the dangers of the "Intelligent Design" (including humans) to be slaugh- I saw the opera twice. I liked it. democracy itself." Berman's rad- "Theory of Evolution." I believe movement (APS News, October), tered by the uncontrolled prolifera- I particularly liked the music, ical and narrow-minded rhetoric with Dyson that the argument but one common reaction of scien- tion of its own cells (i.e., cancer) or although I wish there had been adds nothing of value to the dis- from design has merit as a philo- tists–to ban all discussion of by the most incomplete of living another act focusing on the cussion of "Evolution" and adds sophical principle. One argument Intelligent Design from science class- forms (i.e., viruses)? How to explain Oppenheimer security clearance to the confusion about what the centers on the accidental nature of es–is misplaced. Far better to meet evolution we see occurring before affair. This would have made the discussion should be about. The evolution. Accidental mutations the challenge head on. A brief our very eyes (e.g., disease microbes opera more about Oppenheimer best measured and reasonable per- followed by natural selection are description of the Intelligent Design developing resistance to drugs)? than about the bomb. It would have spective I have found on this has sometimes claimed to explain concept should be given, noting that Third, and most importantly, been the modern Faust theme that been given by Freeman J. Dyson everything. I believe it was it rests entirely on claims that there Intelligent Design lacks the funda- Pamela Rosenberg wanted when in Infinite in All Directions Eugene Wigner who said, "Where are gaps in the description of life mental epistemology of any scien- she commissioned the opera. Adams (Harper & Row, New York in the Schroedinger equation do given by Darwinian evolution. In tific theory: it is neither verifiable nor had rejected the Faust connection (1985)). Dyson states, "In the no- you put the joy of being alive?" effect, it is only a critique of falsifiable by any experimental obser- early on. Above all, I was greatly man's land between science and Evolution fails to explain the role Darwinism; it offers no evidence for vations. It makes no predictions as impressed by the public interest cre- theology, there are five specific of mind and consciousness in its validity beyond the assertion that to what should be observed in cir- ated by the opera not only in points at which faith and reason human affairs, among other evolutionary theory has not yet cumstances not yet studied, and thus Oppenheimer and the bomb, but in may appear to clash. The five things. answered every question concerning no observational result can either physicists and the ethical questions points are the origin of life, the The arguments of "Creation the complexity of life. strengthen or weaken the evidence we sometimes face. human experience of free will, Science" may be overstated; so is It is only fair, then, that any dis- for or against Intelligent Design. It Regarding my own involvement, the prohibition of teleological Berman's case. Can we hear a cussion of Intelligent Design should therefore lacks this most fundamen- I didn't like the position in which I explanations in science, the argu- more rational discussion? also include a critique of it. First, tal attribute of a scientific theory. found myself, vis a vis the libretto. ment from design as an explana- Fletcher Gabbard the many ways in which the sup- An hour or two spent discussing I was reminded of the famous story tory principle, and the question of McKee, KY posed inadequacies of Darwinism Intelligent Design in this way would of the Austrian emperor telling have been exaggerated should be provide students with a much better Mozart that his opera had too many Start Spreadin' the News noted. Second, note the many ques- idea as to why scientists do not accept notes, and Mozart's retort that, on tions Intelligent Design cannot even it as a legitimate scientific competi- the contrary, it had "just the right I sincerely believe that it would The deceptions and lies of the pretend to answer: why do many tor to Darwinian evolution than does number of notes." I never thought be beneficial to society to get the Discovery Institute must be organisms possess vestigial organs simply refusing to discuss the sub- I'd be on the other side. I always "Intelligent Design" Back Page in revealed to the general public! that no longer provide useful func- ject. identified with Mozart. the October APS News published in Brad Barker tion; e.g., the human appendix? What David C. Williams Marvin Cohen is APS past mainstream newspapers and media. Port St Lucie, FL kind of Intelligent Design is it that Albuquerque, NM president. APS NEWS January 2006 5
Senators Express Concern Over Layoffs and Run Times at RHIC and Jefferson Lab
Before the Senate passed the FY requested by the Administration, Brookhaven’s current hiring freeze er, as confirmed in a discussion that invest in the 12GeV upgrade neces- 2006 Energy and Water Development cutting the budget by 8.4% to $370.7 will be extended, and officials estimate took place on the Senate floor. Senator sary to sustain the pace of scientific Appropriations Bill in November, million. there could be as many as 100 scien- Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) led discovery, not cut programs.” Senator senators discussed the negative Laboratory officials are still grap- tific and support position layoffs the November 14 discussion, high- Charles Schumer (D-NY) and impacts that a reduction in funding for pling with the projected impacts of the between now and next October 1. lighting the severe impacts of the Senator George Allen (R-VA) the Department of Energy’s (DOE) reduced budget. RHIC’s next sched- There is language in the reduced funding levels. She was expressed similar concerns. Nuclear Physics program will have on uled run has been delayed until late FY 2006 Energy and Water joined by Senator John Warner (R- two key facilities. As it now stands, in FY2006. It will be combined with Development Appropriations bill VA), who expressed concern about Courtesy of FYI, the American the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider the run for 2007 to afford the longest allowing DOE to reprogram, or shift, the reduced funding level, stating, Institute of Physics Bulletin of Science (RHIC) at Brookhaven National possible time for experimentation. money from one program to anoth- “At the Jefferson Lab we need to Policy News (http://aip.org/fyi). Laboratory and the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility will DNP MEETING CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3 have to reduce operating times, and, at least at RHIC, reduce staffing. Approximately 6 million cargo con- technique uses a neutron beam to ture of a blast furnace. They meas- concern to the industry. Neutron When the Bush Administration tainers arrive at US seaports annu- induce fission, combining it with a ured the thickness of the brickwork interactions in semiconductor devices sent its FY 2006 budget request to ally, carrying up to 30 tons of non- wall of plastic scintillators to detect to glean critical information to produce ionized recoils or reaction Congress, it sought an 8.4% reduc- homogenous cargo on each one, delayed high energy gamma rays predict the lifetime of the furnace. products, thereby depositing charge tion in the Nuclear Physics program according to LLNL’s Jennifer after beta decay of the fission Future work will focus on extending and causing various common fail- budget, from $404.8 million to $370.7 Church. It is extremely difficult to products. the muon radiography method ures, according to S.A. Wender of the million. The Administration acknowl- detect highly enriched uranium and Meanwhile, in Japan, researchers to detect selected elements of Los Alamos Neutron Science Center edged this cut would result in a 29% other nuclear material concealed have used the detection system of concealed nuclear materials using a (LANSCE). Predicting the failure reduction in run time at the Jefferson within such containers using exist- near-horizontal cosmic-ray muon compact accelerator system. rate depends on knowing the neutron Accelerator Facility and a 61% reduc- ing monitors, partly because of radiography equipment–originally Neutrons’ Failing Grades. flux in the environment of a partic- tion in run time at RHIC. extreme attenuation of low energy developed for probing volcanic Neutron-induced failures in semi- ular device, as well as how various Going into the conference to settle gamma rays in the cargo. The new mountains–to probe the inner struc- conductor devices are of increasing devices respond to neutrons. on the final version of the FY2006 bill, it appeared that the Administration’s DFD MEETING CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 suggested cut in the Nuclear Physics The Mandelbrot Set program budget would be rejected. dynamics of the dolphin kick in other key technologies become The House’s initial version of the bill competitive swimming: a stroke smaller and smaller, scientists are had recommended FY 2006 funding that is performed underwater seeking better understanding of a bit higher than what was then the cur- after starts and turns, involving the behavior of gaseous flows at rent level. The Senate bill came in an undulatory motion of the body. the micro- and nano-size scales, even higher, at almost $420 million. A A second team of GWU where the traditional Navier- DOE senior official called the outlook researchers–working in conjunc- Stokes descriptions break down. “very encouraging” at a meeting of the tion with scientists at IBM’s T.J. MIT’s Nicolas Hadjiconstantinou DOE/NSF Nuclear Science Advisory Watson Research Center–conduct- suggests that gaseous hydrody- Committee in early September. ed highly detailed laser body scans namics at these scales can be Despite this promising outlook, of elite competitive swimmers, described by the Boltzmann the final appropriations bill funded the and recreated the kinematics of equation. He described some basic Nuclear Physics program at the level the dolphin kicks from videos of results from an asymptotic Olympic-level athletes. This work analysis of that equation, which he provided the scientists with the has used to resolve a number of Council Passes first glimpse of the fluid and open questions in this area, includ- Memorial Resolution vortex dynamics associated with ing second-order slip, and a means the stroke. of reconciling experimental for John Bahcall Cover Your Mouth. Diseases measurements of slipping flows Photo credit: Darlene Logan ranging from the common cold to with theory. APS President-elect John Benoît Mandelbrot (left) of IBM and Yale joined other APS Fellows more lethal conditions like SARS The Fluid Mechanics of Fire. Bahcall died in August (see at a reception at the Princeton Club in New York City on November 30. are spread by cough-generated Howard Baum of the National The members of his set included Norton Lang of IBM (center) and Brian APS News, October 2005), infectious aerosols, so understand- Institute of Standards and Schwartz of the City University of New York (right). In the background and at its meeting in ing the range and behavior of such Technologies illustrated his November, Council passed a is Donald Monroe. In addition to enjoying refreshments and the festive ambience of the Princeton Club, which was decked out for the holiday flows could help mitigate future latest simulation work on fire resolution in his memory. The outbreaks. To that end, researchers dynamics in enclosures with text of the resolution follows. season, the assembled group of about 80 Fellows heard from APS President-elect (now President) John Hopfield of Princeton, Editor-in- at the University of Colorado at the latest results from the NIST The Council of the Chief Martin Blume, Treasurer Thomas McIlrath, Director of Education Boulder used particle image investigation of the collapse of American Physical Society Ted Hodapp, Director of International Affairs Amy Flatten, and Director velocimetry (PIV) to measure the the World Trade Center towers, notes with great sadness the of Public Affairs Michael Lubell. velocity field of a human cough. as part of a broader discussion on death of John Bahcall of the They found that cough flow the fluid mechanics of fires. Institute for Advanced Study. exhibits slow growth–maximum His talk also covered the role of He was elected APS Vice SESAPS Holds Annual Fall Meeting speeds ranged from 1.5 m/s to fire plumes in the transport of President in 2003 with the 28.8 m/s–indicating that a cough heat and mass. Specifically, the expectation that he would The Southeastern Section of cosmic microwave background may penetrate farther into a room plume provides the feedback become President in 2006, but the APS (SESAPS) held its annu- radiation, as well as the search than a steady jet of similar volume. mechanisms that determine the in early 2005 he recognized al fall meeting November 10-12, for gravitational waves–specif- Small-Scale Flows. As com- strength of a fire, and also acts as that he would be unable to 2005. The conference was host- ically, plans for the upcoming puters, electronic devices, a pump, mixing the fuel and continue to serve. He was a ed by the University of Florida, LISA mission. As for optics, microfluidic labs-on-a-chip, and oxidizer. leader in many areas of astro- Gainsville, with a technical pro- attendees were treated to the lat- physics: providing models for gram that ran the gamut of cut- est research involving slow-light EXECUTIVE BOARD CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 the sun and the neutrino flux ting-edge topics in physics: par- nonlinear optics with cold from it, for the structure of ticle physics, dark matter and dark atoms, as well as the use of plans to lay off 40 members of its Executive Board, H.R. 2419 sets galaxies, and for quasars and energy, physics history, novel light traps to study ultra- staff and reduce operations by 25 our nation on a course that, if sus- the intergalactic medium. In nanophysics, Bose-Einstein con- cold atoms. percent. tained, will soon place us at a com- addition he played a leader- densates and atomic/molecular The World Year of Physics fig- It is also very likely that DOE’s petitive disadvantage in science, ship role in promoting signif- optics. ured prominently in the physics Office of Science will have to con- technology, innovation and global icant astrophysical projects Among the invited lectures in history session. Speakers sider reducing operations at all trade. The Board is especially con- such as the Hubble Space particle physics were reports on recapped Einstein’s years in four of the Department’s X-Ray cerned that Congress set the nation Telescope. Among his many the current status of particle Switzerland, Max Planck’s early synchrotron light sources–which on this course at the same time it awards are the Wolf Prize, the searches at Stanford University’s contributions to the theory of spe- are fully subscribed by industrial increased earmarks for Members’ National Medal of Science, B factories, with the aim of gain- cial relativity, and Sir Arthur and university researchers in many special projects by more than 60 and the APS Hans Bethe ing a better understanding of CP Eddington’s historic 1919 expe- scientific fields, including medi- percent from FY 2005 to $130 mil- Prize. The Council expresses violation. Other talks focused on ditions that resulted in the verifi- cine–and will have to defer plans lion. The Board calls on Congress its deep appreciation for his recent results from the CDF and cation of general relativity. Friday for upgrading Brookhaven’s to assess the damage H.R. 2419 participation in the work of D0 experiments at Fermilab, as evening’s banquet speaker was National Synchrotron Light will do to our science programs the Society and conveys its well as progress on the Large Louis Bloomfield, a professor of Source, a facility that will soon and the development of our high- sincere sympathy to his Hadron Collider. physics at the University of become non-competitive with new tech workforce. The Board urges family and to his many In the area of astrophysics, Virginia, and the author of How European X-Ray laboratories Congress to rearrange its priorities close friends and admirers invited speakers discussed ongo- Things Work: The Physics of nearing completion. next year before the damage worldwide. ing experiments to explore the Everyday Life. In the opinion of the APS becomes irreparable. 6 January 2006 APS NEWS
NEW APS PRESIDENT CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3
the elementary schools, to keep stand how ‘it works’. (I of course physics in the public view, and tried this myself when I was to keep the public interested in young, abetted by my mother and supporting us, we’ve got to do with results which were later A Ridiculously Short History of Time something to make physics more repairable by one parent or the By Eric Oehler developed this theory have myste- verse. The result was the "Not- accessible. We have to show that other). It didn’t matter to my The Big Bang. This great pri- riously disappeared. Quite-so-Big-as-the-Big" Bang. it is not something that only some- father whether it was the voltage mordial explosion supposedly The "Not-Quite-So-Big-as- The outcome was disappointing. body with the genius of Einstein regulator of the car generator or brought everything in the universe the-Big" Bang. Shortly after the The new bang accomplished very can do well. We need to publi- the spectrum of a molecule, the into being, although why exactly Big Bang, at approximately 10-57 little, and the two-party system of cize the breadth over which physi- general view about what a physi- it did this remains slightly ambigu- seconds, some constituents of the physics failed miserably since a cists find significant problems. cist ought to be able to do was a ous. There was belief that the uni- early universe became disgruntled joint decision between the two We have to do something that universal to him. To me that atti- verse was created as a front for the with the way things were going could never be reached. This bipar- emphasizes that physics is behind tude became the essence of a Mafia, although the scientists who and decided to hold their own uni- tisan idea was basically abandoned the vast bulk of the technologies physicist. It’s not the specific sys- throughout the universe and even- that make the world what it is tem you are working on, but the Washington Dispatch tually faded from science. today. We have to emphasize that attitude you bring, that defines a Remnants can still be seen in understanding physics better and physicist. You can do good A bimonthly update from the APS Office of Public Affairs American politics. more deeply is very important to physics whether you’re studying maintaining the United States quarks or the water drops coming ISSUE: FISCAL YEAR 2006 BUDGET That Period When Everything position in a technological world, from a faucet. The attitude about Congress has completed making appropriations for most key science Was Still REALLY Hot. During and that an increased popular what kinds of questions should agencies: NSF, NIST, NASA, and the DOE Office of Science. Action this phase, things were immense- understanding of physics is be asked, and what is meant by an on DOD and NIH is expected to be completed before the end of the ly hot, vaguely resembling New important to making political answer--that’s what characterizes calendar year. The results as of press time are summarized below. Note Jersey in summertime. Tempers decisions about technology. physics to me. Nothing is a pri- that there is a potential for an additional across the board rescission of were short and crime rates soared. Q: How did you become inter- ori out of bounds. There are many 2-3% for all Federal agencies in order to pay for hurricane relief. Free quarks began roaming in ested in physics? significant questions outside of •The National Science Foundation received a modest 3.3 percent gangs of two and three, and con- A: My mother was a physicist the bounds of physics, but when increase for its Fiscal Year (FY06) budget, for a total budget of $5.65 sequently matter formed. and my father was a physicist. I you run across one, you know it billion. However, the majority of the increase included the transfer of The Great Galactic Air thought that was perfectly ordi- because you are unable to find the costly polar icebreaker ships from the Coast Guard. Conditioning. The universe final- nary. Interestingly, I didn’t learn the kind of answers that are sat- •The DOE Office of Science suffered a major and unexpected ly decided that it was time to install much about physics from them. isfactory to you. For instance, I setback during last minute negotiations in the House-Senate Conference. air conditioning. Things cooled What I got, particularly from my remember talking with Feynman The overall budget increased 1% to $3.63 billion, but virtually all of the slowly at first, as the universe was father, was the attitude that you at one point about consciousness. increase went to earmarks. Excluding the $130 million in special trying to save money on its elec- ought to be able to look at the He had given considerable member projects, the Office of Science budget declined by half a tric bills. Things cooled faster later, world and understand how it thought to it over the years, and percent, reversing the increases both houses had approved individually. when the universe got fed up with works. If something was broken decided that because he couldn’t The cuts are expected to fall hardest on university grantees and two the heat and cranked the air con- you should be able to fix it. You conceive of how to do objective nuclear physics laboratories, RHIC and Jefferson Lab. Brookhaven is ditioning up all the way. ought to be able to make measure- experiments of relevance to the considering mothballing RHIC for the coming year and laying off 100 Bosons Acquire Mass. As the ments, and take it apart into com- central issues of consciousness, it or more employees. Jefferson Lab is planning to cut its running time by universe slowly cooled, interme- ponents, and eventually under- lay outside of physics. at least 25 percent, and reducing its staff by as many as 40 people. The diate vector bosons decided that it light sources and neutron scattering facilities could experience a 10% was nicer to stay in a comfortable decrease in staffing levels, 14% in operating hours, and 17% in the air conditioned universe than to go Pay Attention or I’ll Collapse number of users. out outside and exercise. Bosons Your Wavefunction •NIST received a 5.3% increase over its FY05 budget. became the "lazy bum" particles, •NASA Science received a slight increase of 0.4% over its FY05 then the "fat slob" particles, and budget. finally the "weak" particles. The Administration has moved a step closer to making final its pres- Because of their lack of exercise idential budget request for FY07 which it will release on February 6, 2006. bosons began to gain mass, unlike The President’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has complet- their energetic spouses the photons. ed reviewing budget requests it received from the departments and Electromagnetic particles every- agencies last summer and has passed back to the agencies the White where gave ultimatums: "Either House decisions. Given the extremely tight fiscal climate and political you bosons lose some weight and imperatives for reducing both mandatory and discretionary spending, quit being such pathetic lazy bums, science research funding is expected to be under great pressure. or electromagnetism and the weak *** force will file for divorce!" This ISSUE: COMPETITIVENESS mad scramble to lose mass was just In October, the National Academies released a report entitled, “Rising the beginning of: Above the Gathering Storm: Energizing and Employing America for a The Great Boson Diet. With Brighter Economic Future,” which had been requested by Senators bosons scrambling about desperate- ly trying to lose weight, the uni- Photo credit: Ernie Tretkoff Lamar Alexander (R-TN) and Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) of the Senate Jennifer Ouellette reads to a stuffed quantum cat. Committee on Energy and Natural Resources last summer. Norman verse was a very turbulent place. Augustine, retired chairman and CEO of Lockheed Martin Corporation, The big problem was figuring out A new book by APS News shows the quirky personalities chaired the august committee that produced the report, which urges pol- just how to go about losing mass Associate Editor Jennifer and amusing stories behind the icy makers to act rapidly to ensure that the United States is not and just how many calories bosons Ouellette has turned the “This science. For instance, Eilmer of overtaken in the 21st century battle in global competitiveness. The report could burn without endangering Month in Physics History” col- Malmesbury, a medieval monk makes four principle recommendations: their health. Many tried crash diets, umn into a fun and accessible who jumped off a roof with a •Increase America’s talent pool by vastly improving K-12 science and but only ended up gaining it all collection of essays for a gener- crude pair of wings in 1010, mathematics education. back. Several gave up entirely and al audience. Ouellette’s book, appears in the chapter on flight. •Sustain and strengthen the nation's commitment to long-term basic went on to curse Oprah Winfrey Black Bodies and Quantum Cats, A building in Zimbabwe research. forever as "fat particles." The final was released on December 27, designed to mimic the tempera- •Ensure that the United States is the premier place in the world for blow came when random particles published by Penguin Books. ture regulation found in termite innovation. adhered into the first snack foods. The book began from the his- mounds illustrates the principle •Develop, recruit, and retain top students, scientists, and engineers While very primitive, these proto- tory columns written by Ouellette of biomimicry. A chapter on the from both the United States and abroad. Twinkies, quasi-DingDongs and for APS News, but the essays in discovery of the top quark com- While the report is one of a dozen recently released reports address- meta-Fritos made the Great the book have been significant- pares the subatomic zoo to the ing US competitiveness, it is receiving a great deal of attention from Boson Diet an abject failure. ly expanded and written to appeal huge and eccentric Greek fami- Congress and the Administration because of the prominence of the Electromagnetism and the weak to a wider readership. Each chap- ly in the hit movie My Big Fat committee, the timing of the release, and the compelling presentations force eventually divorced. The ter in Black Bodies and Quantum Greek Wedding. they’ve made. The committee included such notables as Craig Barrett, forces still remain friends, how- Cats deals with a single theme in Black Bodies and Quantum chairman of the board of Intel Corporation; Robert Gates, president of ever, and can occasionally be seen science history, from Leonardo Cats will appeal to anyone who Texas A&M and former Director of the Central Intelligence Agency; flirting in Switzerland and Illinois. da Vinci to string theory. Among wants to learn more about how Charles Holliday, chairman of the board of Dupont; Lee Raymond, The Universe Moves On. the supporting cast of scientifi- some of the most amazing dis- chairman of the board and CEO of Exxon-Mobil; and Roy Vagelos, Things proceeded in a somewhat cally interesting objects are roller coveries in science came about. retired chairman of the board and CEO of Merck. The committee also normal manner for a while. There coasters, IBM’s chess playing Even physicists should enjoy it. included university presidents; current and former directors of were no more turbulent particle computer, Reddi-whip and Ouellette, a big fan of the TV national laboratories; and three Noble Prize winners. To view the relationships, outside of the normal Velcro. show Buffy the Vampire Slayer, report, go to http://www.nap.edu/catalog/11463.html. fission and fusion. Stars were born The short, self-contained has also just completed a book on and died, great nebulae spread out essays explain physics through the Physics of the Buffyverse, Log on to the APS Web site into the cosmos, planets formed, references to movies, television, which will be published in (http://www.aps.org/public_affairs) for more information. Zero Gravity continued on page 7 literature, and art. Each chapter January 2007. APS NEWS January 2006 7
Now Appearing in RMP JOB FAIRS AT APS MARCH AND APRIL MEETINGS Recently Posted Reviews MARCH 2006 and Colloquia APS March Meeting Job Fair High-Tech Growth a Priority in Central and Eastern Europe You will find the following March 13 – 15, 2006 in the online edition of Baltimore, MD George W. Handy commitment of resources. Reviews of Modern Physics at http://rmp.aps.org APRIL 2006 Global competition has placed •Participation in organizations APS April Meeting Job Fair Doping a Mott insulator: a premium on growth in science like the Association of University April 23 – 24, 2006 and technology. This is particular- Technology Managers (AUTM), Physics of high-temperature superconductivity Dallas, TX ly true in Central and Eastern which advances in such sound Patrick A. Lee, Naoto Don’t miss the opportunity to connect with employers and job Europe (CEE), where the 10 lead- technology transfer practices as Nagaosa and Xiao-Gang Wen seekers from all areas of physics and physical sciences. This is the ing countries* are growing at an the protection of intellectual One of the paths on the perfect opportunity to reach high-level candidates who will bring skill, average rate of 5.8% of GDP as property rights. odyssey to a theory of high-tem- dedication, and energy to your organization. opposed to a 1.8% rate for the 15 •Identification of high perature superconductivity is the Recruiters West European countries, called technology priorities and the estab- "resonating valence bond" idea • Showcase your company with a Recruitment Booth the EU 15. These 10 CEE countries lishment of workbench-level proposed by Anderson. This • Advertise open positions have a tradition of intellectual exchanges to define practical areas review discusses relevant exper- • Interview qualified job candidates achievement, and a recognition that for actual cooperation. imental phenomenology and • Search resumes specific to the meeting sustained economic growth •Expanded university-to-univer- follows the mathematical devel- Job Candidates requires improved capacity rather sity exchanges that include the opments of the idea, progressing • Network with technical staff and human resource recruiters that simply relying on cheap labor. development of joint research proj- from the mean-field theory of the • Post resumes and search jobs High technology growth has ects of probable interest to busi- t-J model and leading to strong- • Interview for positions become a priority for these 10 ness and investors. coupling gauge theories. For more information, please contact Alix Brice at (301) 209-3187 CEE countries, and a basis for •Encouragement of an entrepre- or [email protected]. their increasing economic cooper- neurial mindset that more ation across the Euro-Atlantic efficiently manages the develop- community–and globally. ment and application of cutting- MEMBERS IN THE MEDIA APS APRIL MEETING CONTINUED FROM ON PAGE 1 Central and Eastern European edge technologies. CONTINUED FROM PAGE 2 Numerous special events are Also on Friday, the APS countries are particularly aware of Project activity is particularly seeing the problem." also planned for the April meeting, Committee on the Status of Women American excellence in high tech- linked to major associations such as –Saul Perlmutter, UC Berkeley, including a High School Teacher’s in Physics is sponsoring an all-day nology growth. A number of current the Association of University on dark energy, SEED Magazine, Day on Friday, April 21. Educators professional skills development initiatives have been organized with Technology Transfer Managers November 30, 2005 in the Dallas vicinity will partici- workshop for women physicists, an emphasis on sharing American (AUTM). Joint ventures with the pate in hands-on workshops to learn targeted toward tenure-track and success in innovation, commercial- US for early stage research are "If one thinks of a nanomaterial about new and innovative activities newly tenured women physicists. ization and in attracting private increasing; for example, US Air as a house, our approach enables a for the classroom, and hear talks by For more information, see investment. This is leading to Force research funding is permit- scientist to act as architect, contrac- researchers on select topics in cut- www.aps.org/educ/cswp/skills/ increased CEE joint ventures in ting an exchange of possible appli- tor and day laborer all wrapped up ting-edge physics. index.cfm. high technology with the US and cations of femtosecond lasers in one. We design the components other countries. More can be done. with a team from Budapest of the house ... so that they will inter- TOO MUCH SCREAMING CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4 University of Technology and For the past 13 years, the Center act with each other in such a way creationism, and then devotes most Design is emphatically not a threat Economics. More advanced proj- for Strategic and International that, when you throw them togeth- of his article to bashing creation- to all of science and society. ects with US organizations are also Studies (CSIS) has offered a pro- er randomly, they self-assemble into ism, Berman is not contributing to The reason that evolution is prevalent. A joint US-Hungary ven- gram that has addressed opportuni- the desired house." a helpful debate. In doing so, he taught in biology classes is that it's ture, under the company Genetic ties for high technology growth as –Salvatore Torquato, Princeton strongly resembles physicist the best theory we've got–just as in Immunity, has an HIV/AIDS vac- one of a number of key areas for University, on a new approach to Lawrence Krauss, who has written physics, Classical Mechanics was cine already in clinical trials. economic transformation, particu- manipulating nanomaterials, United frequently for the NY Times, "the best theory we've got" in the At issue in building new joint larly for the countries of the Former Press International, November 30, repeatedly slurring intelligent 1920s. There is plenty of time, in ventures with the US is how to go Soviet Union. This program, the 2005 design through "guilt by associa- college or grad school, to look into about organizing a high technolo- International Action Commissions tion" with creationism. As long as the ragged edges of Darwin's gy venture that is likely to succeed. Program, has completed 170 proj- "The main educational benefit is the scientific establishment theory. Corrections and improve- The following steps offer a frame- ects that have helped to introduce in their effect on the students' engages in such tactics, a finite ments to Darwinian evolution will work for action: practical, near-term improvements attitude toward the course. It creates fraction of the American people appear through diligent scientific •Awareness that US scientific in business and investment growth a more relaxed classroom ... and will be completely turned off to inquiry. Suppressing such inquiry activity is flexible and horizontal as a part of the transformation of makes the professor more science. It isn't necessary. out of a misplaced fear of rather than hierarchical. these countries. The most recent of approachable." Creationism is gradually fading "religious nuts" only slows down •Capitalizing on the fact that seven Action Commissions is the –Walter Smith, Haverford away on its own, and doesn't need the progress of science. most US organizations identify their Euro-Atlantic Action Commission, College, on singing songs about to be bludgeoned by the science Meanwhile, one perverse bene- research priorities and view sci- and it focuses on the 10 leading physics in class, Wired News, community. The unhappy fact that fit of the entire controversy is that ences as an international activity. CEE countries identified earlier in December 2, 2005 the creationists would like to hijack high school students will pay •Making contact at workbench this paper. This Action Commission Intelligent Design Theory for their better attention because they'll level that is focused on established has undertaken projects on high "Cyclotrons are not nuclear own purposes clutters up the issue, want to know what the fight is all priorities and is the first step in a technology growth based in the reactors. Probably the worst thing but does not automatically disqual- about, and hence they'll learn new high technology venture. Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, that could happen with small ify any scientist who questions more biology along the way. •Given practical grounds for Romania and Slovakia. This article cyclotrons is that the operators might Darwin. If a clear distinction Perhaps we could use something cooperation, senior level agreement draws specifically on these recent electrocute themselves." between science and philosophy is like that in physics. to commit resources to that joint hands-on experiences. – Roger Dixon, Fermilab, on an upheld, as Miller counsels, science Thomas P. Sheahen venture is the next step. On-going Action Commission Alaska man who plans to assemble has nothing to fear–Intelligent Deer Park , MD projects with the Czech Republic New opportunities for high a cyclotron in his Anchorage house, technology development with the and Hungary are stressing science Wired News, December 1, 2005 ZERO GRAVITY CONTINUED FROM PAGE 6 and engineering excellence partic- leading countries of Central and ularly in the area of physics. These Eastern Europe face lower risks In insects, "the morphology life evolved, and eventually the afterwards, such as accounting. As projects have reaffirmed the impor- and leverage a strong tradition of (shape) of the wing has almost no Bell telephone system broke up. to what will herald this end, tance to high technology growth scientific excellence. This is an role. What matters is not the shape Only a few great occurrences philosophers, scientists, and in Central and Eastern Europe of opportunity for the US govern- of the wing but how the insect moves happened in the later stages of the theologians have disagreed for capitalizing on the international ment, businesses, universities and it. That's very different from conven- universe. One very important event ages. Some believe the gods will nature of science, and of fostering laboratories. In this period of tional (airplane) aerodynamics, was the release of the album Voulez walk the Earth, others that the stars cooperation among business, gov- transatlantic tensions, it may be where the shape of the wing is Vous by the Swedish disco band will all vanish, and still others ernment, institutes and universi- that science and engineering coop- everything." ABBA. Containing such disco clas- believe the Earth will stop ties. Physics and other sciences eration in high technology ven- –Michael Dickinson, Caltech, on sics as "Take a Chance on Me," it turning. However, a majority now have emphasized discipline and tures will become a valuable mech- how bees fly, San Francisco revolutionized the way the rest of believe that the end will be order as well as the application of anism for restoring mutual trust Chronicle, November 28, 2005 the world looked at Scandinavian heralded by the Milwaukee ethics, judgment, and responsible and confidence more broadly music and lent musical legitimacy Brewers winning the World Series. application that are at the core of across the Euro-Atlantic nations. "Of course, you know how to the disco sound. The end of the universe is truly a successful entrepreneurship. George W. Handy is Director scientists are. We study things How the Universe Will End. long way away... Transatlantic business and other of the Action Commissions because they're there and there's a lot Some theorists believe that the Based in Madison, Wisconsin, Eric private sector organizations have Program at the Center for Strategic of interest in Mars these days universe will expand into a state of Oehler is a software developer, font worked together on recent projects and International Studies in because of the potential for flying maximum entropy. Others think designer, and frontman for an of the Action Commission that have Washington. humans there and the fact that Mars that the universe will collapse upon electronic band called Null Device. He stressed the following: *Bulgaria, Czech Republic, has a lot of similarities to Earth." itself and start over in a process wrote this satire while a student at the •Establishing a focus on tech- Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, –Donald Gurnett, University of termed "The Great Cosmic University of Wisconsin, Madison. nologies that reflect national Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Iowa, on studying Mars, Iowa City Nervous Breakdown," perhaps The full unedited article can be found priorities and the associated Slovakia, and Slovenia. Press-Citizen, December 1, 2005 joining a more stable profession online at www.12am.com/arshot.htm. 8 January 2006 APS NEWS The Back Page The Role and Promise of Physics Education Research By Noah Finkelstein
n October 2005 report from it will be physicists alone who or Physics Today. the National Academies– address the grave challenges of sci- Much of the early success of the Aentitled Rising Above the ence education outlined above. field came from the study of student Gathering Storm–details the need However, physicists will be funda- understanding and carefully engi- for our society’s investment in edu- mental contributors to address these neered curricula designed to improve cation, particularly in the sciences. issues. The challenges of science that understanding. Some seminal Among other recommendations, the education require the participation of work in the field was the develop- authors call for 10,000 new science physicists. It is we who have the ment and broad application of assess- and math teachers each year to edu- content knowledge. For example, a ment tools to more reliably answer cate ten million minds. In short, thriving subgroup in the PER com- the questions of if and what our stu- education is a fundamental form of munity studies how students learn dents learn. The Force Concept society’s investment in its future. and how to teach quantum mechan- Inventory and other similar measure- In many respects, however, we ics effectively. It is a rare member of ment tools (such as the FMCE, appear to be failing. The report from any other discipline–education, psy- CSEM, BEMAand now tools in just the National Academies documents chology or elsewhere–who has the about every field of physics) have Noah Finkelstein the poor performance of our K12 necessary understanding of physics been instrumental in persuading fac- students as well as significant chal- to deeply engage in many such ques- ulty that students are not learning many of our educational challenges. the reader to consult the rich and lenges facing our college and even tions. what they believed (perhaps because In a study of learning by using com- growing literature in the field in graduate students. The situation is yet Another clear reason to house of wishful thinking). Meanwhile, puter simulations, students in a large- the American Journal of Physics, worse for the poor and students of PER within the physics community research-based curricula, such as the scale, introductory physics course Proceedings of the Physics color. Furthermore, we have found is that we are the practitioners who University of Washington Tutorials were assigned to one of two educa- Education Research Conference, and that not only are our students not make use of the results of PER. Our in Introductory Physics or Physics by tional conditions, one using real the newly formed Physical Review learning what we intend to teach charge as a community includes edu- Inquiry, which are designed with equipment and one using a comput- online journal in Physics Education them (both in K12 and college), but cating both current students and specific learning goals and are stud- er simulation entitled the Circuit Research. students are actually learning things future teachers (as well as defining ied, refined and tested, have been Construction Kit (CCK) available What challenges does physics we don’t intend. For instance, in what it means to know physics). shown to improve students’ under- at phet.colorado.edu. Students com- education face? What distinguishes introductory physics, students tend Meanwhile the complement is true. standing of foundational concepts pleted identical labs using these dif- the hollow calls for education from to exit their courses with more PER has benefited and grown enor- in physics, and even been shown to ferent tools. As assessed by com- more authentic calls? Action. novice-like beliefs about science and mously because it applies the tools enhance students’traditional problem mon, validated questions about elec- Physicists, by building and support- the nature of learning science than of science to educational problems. solving skills. tric circuits placed on the final exam, ing the field of PER, are acting–other when they enter. We must address We hypothesize, experiment, ana- New approaches to classroom the CCK students demonstrated disciplines are following suit. As these vast challenges in a variety of lyze, theorize, debate and reconcile interaction have borne out theories greater mastery of DC circuits, and with the growth of any new field, ways–politically, economically, and our findings. Physicists’attention to of student learning that suggest that performed indistinguishably on though, PER faces a variety of through academic work. education is not simply a matter of learning is an active process and par- concepts not related to circuits. pressures and opportunities. Its Just as education is a fundamen- convenience and success, however. ticularly facilitated by encouraging Somewhat surprisingly, on a cou- dramatic growth and acceptance tal form of investment in a society’s Focusing on social practices, and students to be engaged in our edu- pled challenge to assemble a real has proven productive; however, if future, research in education is a fun- education in particular, is the moral- cational environments. Mazur’s Peer circuit, the students who had worked we are to continue to see such damental form of investment in the ly conscionable act of physicists. Instruction leverages technology to only with virtual equipment demon- dramatic success, we must actively future of education. How we educate Whether we like it or not, we are change the large-scale passive lecture strated greater capabilities in support and choose to develop the should be determined by thorough engaged in political acts, support- environment into one where students manipulating the real equipment field. Let us encourage others to act research in and understanding of our ing or challenging existing para- are the ones “teaching themselves.” than their counterparts who had on the calls of the APS to support goals in education. To that end, over digms and power structures. Finally, (Of course the logical extension is only worked with real equipment. PER and its continued growth the past several decades physicists it is worth noting that physicists are that students don’t need us–perhaps This is not to say it is always prefer- within physics departments. have built a community of very successfully conducting such our ultimate goal.) Other education- able to work virtually. The most At the same time we might act researchers, a scholarship, and canon research within physics departments. al practices, such as studio or work- careful consideration ought be given more broadly. Funding, as with all of work that focuses on education, Currently there are over 100 PER shop physics (variously developed to how and when we apply techno- areas of physics and science research, learning, and teaching in physics. faculty, in more than 80 physics and studied by Laws, Beichner, logical solutions to social problems. is politically bound. We ought to fol- This field is known broadly as departments, roughly 20 of which Belcher, Cummings and many other PER also extends beyond class- low former APS President Helen physics education research (PER). offer PhD programs with PER tracks. scholars) stem from the work of John room studies and studies of student Quinn’s call for our community to PER challenges how, when, why, There is significant funding from Dewey who argued for such practices thinking. A variety of lines of lobby and act collectively, and seek and whom we educate. NSF, a conference series published in the early 1900’s. However, our research seek to change the broader the support of education research Physicists have moved beyond by AIP, and several publication ven- approach to studying these scientif- structure of education in physics and within the sciences. I’m pleased to the wishful thinking of common edu- ues, including a new Physical ically, and iterating on what works the sciences. One example, a joint have worked with many members of cational practice to a more studied Review journal dedicated to PER. based on data, is new. effort of the APS, AAPT, AIP, the the PER community, and with U.S. and scientific approach to teaching. Most broadly, PER has helped More recently, researchers have Physics Teacher Education Senator Ken Salazar and his staff, to For example, perhaps our commit- physics education move from an ad been expanding the canon of ques- Coalition, seeks to increase the num- argue for eliminating the devastating ment to laboratory experiences for all hoc, individualized and disconnect- tions, examining what and how we ber, preparation, and retention of the cuts to NSF funding devoted to students is borne out by the research, ed practice to a more scientific, col- teach more broadly. In newly struc- highest caliber physics teachers. education research. (Recently these or perhaps not. Could it be possible lective, archived and incrementally tured courses that promote students’ Given that approximately two out cuts were reported to be one third that students who work with virtual developed practice. For instance, understanding of content, researchers of every three US high school their initially proposal levels of equipment develop the same one of the frequent calls in education have documented that students do not physics teachers do not hold any roughly 50%.) mechanical facility in the laborato- is to develop and promote on-line necessarily develop scientific beliefs physics degree, can we be surprised Finally, both practitioners and ry as students who work with real instruction. Huge investments have about the discipline. Researchers at by our pre-college students’ poor researchers of physics education will equipment? To address such ques- already been made and even greater Maryland (including Redish, Saul, performance? do well to be explicit about their tions, the PER community has con- investments are projected for the Elby and Hammer) and more recent- Other nascent research efforts in goals as to why and how we teach ducted research that varies from future. But how best might we lever- ly at Colorado (Adams, Perkins and the community explore the contin- physics. A broad span of motives challenging specific beliefs about age technology in our educational Wieman) have documented that as ued low representation of women fit within the umbrella of investing student understanding to global system? All too often we employ a result of instruction in typical cours- and people of color in physics and in our society and world’s future. By structures of institutional change and technology for its own ends. Careful es, students tend to believe that the physics classroom. Such efforts being explicit about our goals and what has and should be included in research in PER can help guide the physics is more a matter of memo- are designed not simply to figure out identifying how our actions are the education of our students. We development and application of new rizing disconnected formulae that how to teach, but to examine how we aligned with these goals (in the class- have done so through a scholarship technological tools for teaching and have little to do with the real world might teach in a socially just and room, the boardroom, and faculty of research, debate, community learning of physics. If we could have and less a coherent study of the world equitable manner. Other critical meetings), we may make great consensus, verification and valida- online laboratories for students, in a rational manner. These research examines institutional struc- strides to an equitable, prospering tion– just as any other sub-discipline should we? In what manner? Current researchers have started to identify tures that support (or inhibit) the sus- and humane society. of physics. It is the growth and research addressing these questions curricula and practices that effec- tained and scaled implementation of Noah Finkelstein is an assistant success of PER that led to the sig- is discussed below. For the moment, tively reverse these trends, and may reforms that have proven produc- professor of physics specializing in nificant APS Statement (99:2), I briefly highlight a few of the well change students’ interest and tive. These studies of disseminating physics education research at the endorsing research in PER as a sta- achievements of the PER communi- inclusion in the discipline. and sustaining model programs occur University of Colorado at Boulder, ple and appropriate activity for the ty. Many more thorough reviews In coupled work, researchers in because physicists seek to ensure and he also is the leader of their physics community. exist and I recommend Redish’s book the PER group at Colorado have that their efforts do not fall prey to PhysTEC project. While the views At the same time, we might ask, Teaching Physics and recent articles started examining when and why the same fates as prior educational expressed herein are his own, he why physicists? I do not suggest that in the American Journal of Physics technology may be helpful to address initiatives. For more, I encourage suspects others may agree with him.
APS News welcomes and encourages letters and submissions from its members responding to these and other issues. Responses may be sent to: [email protected].